Tea-canister.



T. I. BOUREK.

TEA CANISTER. APPLICATION min uov.12. m4.

Patented Jan. 16,1917.

Flrs-3- 1 26 z 2 iiininrfilam' 2111251 Fla--1 9 WITNESSES I mveumn Moll/ mowers THOMAS JOHN BOUBEK, OF HELENA, MONTANA.

TEA-CANISTEB.

Specification ot'Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 16, 1917;

Application filed November 12, 1914. SerialNo. 871,839.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, THOMAS J. BOUREK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Helena, in the county of Lewis and Clark and State of Montana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tea-Canisters of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to tea canisters or containers.

One of the principal objects of the invention is to provide an improved canister designed to contain in a sanitary manner, and dispense in various and desired amounts, teas of difierent grades or kind.

Another object of the invention is to provide a canister having an improved dispensing apparatus, whereby the desired amount of tea may be drawn from the canister at any time.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved canister of the type described, which will be extremely simple, durable, eflicient in operation and inexpensive to manufacture.

With these and other objects in view' which will become apparent as the descrip tion proceeds, the invention resides in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts, hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which like, characters of reference indicate like parts throughout the several figures, of which- Figure 1 represents a front elevational view of a canister constructed according to my invention. Fig. 2 represents a vertical. transverse sectional view taken through the canister on the plane indicated by the line 22 of Fig. 3. Fig. 3 represents a horizontal sectional view taken through the container on the plane indicated by the line 3-3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 represents a view of the canister with the front wall removed.

In carrying out my invention, I provide a canister comprising abottom 5, a front wall 6, a rear wall 7, and end walls 8. A cover 9 provided with a handle 10 is hingedly connected as at 11 to rear wall 7. Said rear wall is stifi'ened by means of small strap iron '12.

Within the canister are disposed the containers 13 and 14, for the reception of teas of a difl'erent character. The containers are disposed 'side by side within the canister,

and are each provided with a dispensing mechanism. p

Each container has formed integrally therewith or suitably connected thereto. at its lower end a vertically disposed hollow circular band or casing 15. The latter at the upper portion of its periphery has an inlet opening 16 communicating with the container, and in spaced relation to the opening 16 adjacent front Wall 6 is provided With a discharge openin as at 17. The walls of the container slope ownwardly toward the inlet opening 16 so that the contents of said container may pass through said opening by gravity. The opening 17 communicates with a discharge spout 18. The sides of the spout are formed of prolongations of flat strips 19 which extend transversely of the canister and are connected to the front and rear walls 6-and 7 respectively thereof, said strips lying on opposite sides of the circular band or casing 15. The spout is provided with a bottom 20, which connects with the circular casing at the lower end of d1scharge opening 17.

Transversely of the canister on opposite sides of the transverse central line thereof are disposed brace strips 21. The braces similar to strips 19 are connected to the front and rear walls of the canister. J ournaled at their inner ends in braces 21 are a pair of shafts 22 whose outer. ends are ]0l11 naled as at 23 in the end walls of the canister. The shafts extend in alinement with each other longitudinally of the canister. The shafts extend axially through the circular bands or casings 15, and fixed on the shafts within the circular bands or casings are the feed wheels 24. The latter are provided on their periphery with pockets 25,- adapted to be consecutively filled with the contents of the containers through the inlet openings 16, and to discharge their contents by gravity through the exit opening 17 to the spouts 18 as the wheels are rotated.

Secured on each shaft 22 on opposite sides of the feed wheels, are a pair of ratchet wheels 26. Swiveled on the shafts adjacent the ratchet wheels are the operating levers 27. Each lever comprises a pair of inner sections 28 pivoted on opposite sides of one of the ratchet wheels, and an outer section 29 secured between the outer ends of sections 28. A detent or dog 30 is pivotally disposed between the inner sections 28 of each lever, and is maintained in engagement with the adjacent ratchet wheel 26 by means of a leaf spring 31. The latter is secured at its outer end to section 29 of the lever and at its inner end extends down between the inner end of section 29 and the dog 30, into engagement with the latter as indicated in Fig. 2. The levers are each normally maintained in raised position by means of a coiled spring 32 connected at its lower end to the lever at 33 and at its upper end to a side wall of a container at 34. By

manually pressing each lever downwardly, its ratchet wheel, and consequently the shaft and feed wheel with which it is connected is rotated a distance commensurate with the length of the path of movement of the lever.

Each of the containers is provided with a discharge mechanism as described, including a feed wheel, a spout, and a pair of levers and the mechanism by which the latter rotate the feed wheel. The outer 'sections 29 of each pair of levers operably connected with each feed wheel extend one through a shorter slot 35 and the other through a longer slot 36 provided in the front wall 6 of the canister as indicated in Fig. 1. I

For convenience I designate the levers by the letters A, B, C, and D, respectively, as shown in Fig. 1. Levers A and B operate the discharge mechanism of one container while levers C and D operate the discharge mechanism of the other container. Teas of different grades may be deposited in the containers, for instance say black tea in the container operated by levers C and D, and green tea in the container operated by the levers A and B. Should an amount of tea necessary to make a pot of black tea of medium strength he required, the lever D is pushed down as far as it will go and the desired amount of tea leaves will be discharged ,through the spout 18 connected with the discharge mechanism operable by levers C. and D. Should a pot of weak black tea be desired the lever G is pressed downwardly as far as it will go and-a less amount of tea will be discharged, b reason of the slot C through which lever works being)shorter than the slot through which lever works. Should a strong pot of black tea be desired the lever D and lever C are pressed downwardly one after the other, thus dischar 'ng the desired amount of tea. If a m um pot of green tea is desired lever B will be operated, and if a weak pot of green tea is desired lever A will be operated, etc. A mixture of the two teas may be obtained in the desired quantities by operating the levers of the two canisters necessary to give the required amount in each case. Upon each operation of the levers they will be returned to normal position by action of the springs 32.

Although I have described the preferred embodiment of my invention, I may desire to make such changes in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts thereof as do not depart from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claim.

A device of the class-described comprising a canister, having slots of different lengths provided in one wall thereof, a container disposed within the canister, a circular casing disposed beneath the container and having an inlet opening communicating with said container, a spout extending from the circular casing through one wall of the canister, said circular casing provided with an exit opening communicating with said spout and in spaced relation to said inlet opening, a shaft journaled within the canister and extending centrally and transversely through said circular casing, a feed wheel secured on the shaft vwithin the circular casing and provided with a plurality of pockets along its periphery, a pair. of ratchet wheels secured to said shaft on opposite sides of the feed wheel, a lever swiveled upon said shaft adjacent each ratchet wheel, means adapted to lock the levers with 'the ratchet wheels when the former are moved in one direction and adapted to allow movement of the levers relatively to the ratchet wheels in the op means for normally maintaining said levers in raised position, said levers extending each through one of the slots in the canister, the length of said slots adapted to determine the path of movement of the levers;

THOMAS Witnesses CHAS. Fianna, STEVE CANTY.

JOHN BOUREK.

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